Floods have been the highlight of the week in Romania. Dozens of villages in the West side of the country have been flooded because of the heavy rains. So everyday stories sound like this: “Last night, on the news, I saw this old couple. The woman was sick, sitting on the bed and crying, while the water level kept rising in the room. Her husband couldn’t leave her there but couldn’t help her either. ‘I don’t have any strength left to fight the waters’, he said. This happened to them every year, at least once, if not twice”.

Yes, every year Romanian authorities have to deal with the same issue: floods! And how? Oh, simple! The weather experts announce the floods, of course, at least a week before, but the authorities simply cannot do anything about it. They just wait, the floods have their way, and then the state spends enormous amounts of money to take care of people whose houses have been destroyed…

Stupid, isn’t it? Why don’t they just spend that money trying to prevent the floods? Noooo! It’s easier to just save people when they’re in danger of being killed by the waters than trying to stop the damned rivers from flooding everything when it rains…You know, us Romanians, are very proud of how smart we are! IT experts, engineers, brilliant students shaming the other countries…Yet at times we are so stupid. Or at least our leaders are! But, if we chose them in the first place…In the end it’s still our fault!

Everyday we complain we cannot elect someone better because they are simply alike. Politicians, very greedy politicians, regardless of the party they’re in! Why don’t we get involved? Why isn’t every young man talking about politics every time he has the chance? Why aren’t there any petitions? I can admit that I don’t even know the names of the Ministers…I only know the names of the President and of the Prime Minister! I don’t really give a damn about politics anyway. And I am a journalism student…If we don’t stay in touch with the major events, who will?

I remember I was pretty angry a few days ago because they didn’t let me go in a McDonald’s fast-food wearing rollerblades. There was no sign saying “no rollerbladers allowed” and they use the image of skateboarders and other sporty young people for their advertisements anyway! So that does ruin their image! The reason I wasn’t allowed to get in? I don’t really know, they didn’t bother to give me one! Probably washing the floor issues – rollerblades do leave traces that are quite easy to erase with a mop! I wonder, does anyone get in when it rains so they’d have to wash the floor every five minutes?

So, what did I do? Did I call the manager and ask for an explanation? Did I write a complaint letter to McDonalds Romania or to the USA headquarters saying I would choose KFC if they’re attitude did not change? No, I just left. This is so typical for Romanians! We pay extremely large amounts for services, although our living standard is quite low but we don’t really complain when we don't get what we paid for. And if we do complain, we are labeled as crazy or worse.